Grip for tram-ijars



(No Model.) V

D. T.'DENTON.

GRIP FOR TEAM CARS.

INVENTOR: ,0 $5

Patented Jan. 17 1888.

WITNESSES:

ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Fholo'lithbgnpher. WashingloMlPZ-O NITE GRIP FOR TRAM=CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 376,587, dated January 17, 1888.

Application filed October 15,1887. Serial No. 252,449. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DANIEL T. DENToN, of Tower Mines, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Grip for Tram-0ars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved grip for attaching or detaching a tram-car to or from a wire rope, so

that it may be attached and detached without stopping.

The invention consists of a hook held on the car and adapted to be engaged by a staple secured to a slide fastened on the cable.

The invention also consists of certain parts and details and combinations of the same, as will be fully described hereinafter, and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a sectional. side elevation of my improvement, and Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssection of the same onthc line 00 x of Fig. 1.

The tram-car A, ofany approved construction, is provided in the middle, on the under side of its bottom,*with a hook, 13, consisting of the forwardly and downwardly projecting point C, terminating at its rear end in the downwardly-curved hook part D, held on the shank E, fastened on the bottom of the car. The hook B is adapted to engage a staple, F, held on top of the slide G, adapted to enter and slide in the guides I-I, secured on top of the straight platform I, provided with an in cline J, which leads the slide G up to the guides H. The slide G is secured to a cable, K, either at only one end or both, according to the arrangement of the transmission,which may be an endless cable, as shown in the drawings, or a gravity-road, in which only one end of the cable is secured to one end of the slide.

The operation is as follows: The tram-car A, when used in mines, is filled with ore or other material, raised out of the shaft, and

then attached to the cable, which is set in motion by suitable power, so that the car is carried to its destination, emptied, and returned by the same cable, and unhookedautomatically from the cable, and then again returned to the mine; The operator attaches the filled car to the cable K by moving the car A over the platform I, so that the pointed end of the hook B engages the staple F until the latter butts against the inner end of the hook part D. The momentum of the car now carries the staple F, with the slide G, forward off the platform I. As soon as the slideG leaves the guides H, then the slide drops downward, so that the upper part of the stapleF engages the curved hook part D, thus preventing the Sta ple F from becoming detached from the hook B, and thus attaching the car to the cable K,

which now travels in the direction of the arrow a and carries the car to its destination. After the car is emptied it is again returned to the place of starting. As soon as the car passes onto the platform I on the return of the cable K, then the slide G passes up the incline J and enters the guides H, whereby the staple F is sufficiently raised so that it disengages the hook part D, thus detaching the car A from the slide of the cable K. A filled car is then again moved onto the platform I and attached to the cable K, as above described.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a grip for tram cars, the combination, with a hook secured on the bottom of the car, of a staple adapted to engage the said hook, and a slide carrying the said staple and being secured to the cable, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a grip for tram-cars, the combination, with a hook secured to the bottom of the car, of a staple adapted to engage the said hook, a

slide carrying the said staple and being secured to the cable, and an. incline for raising the said slide, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a grip for tramcars, a hook secured to the bottom of the car, an incline, and guides held on the upper end of the said incline, in combination with a slide secured to the cable and adapted to travel on the said incline and engage the said guides, and a staple held on the said slide and adapted to engage the said hook, substantially as shown and described.

- DANIEL T. DENTON.

Witnesses:

A. S. SHEPHARD, ELISHA MoEooM. 

